As most people know Fiji is a South Pacific volcanic island. This has effects on both the meso and micro-scale climate controls in the area.
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Location of Fiji, in relation to Australia in the South Pacific Ocean. This location has significant meso-scale climate controls effecting it. Image: http://www.etravelblackboard.co.nz/article.asp?id=63145
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Some of the greater meso-scale climate controls that have influence on Fiji are primary related to its location. Being a small island submits the area to have a climate that is at the will of the ocean surrounding it. Temperature fluctuations, as a result of seasonality, are barely noticeable. This is the result of the temperature being controlled by the surrounding waters. Water takes a very large amount of energy before it begins to gain sensible heat and it also doesn't lose it as easily, which is the opposite of how land reacts.
As discussed in the previous blog, Fiji is also greatly influenced by the ITCZ, and more specifically the SPCZ. This is what causes the heavy rain season on the island. While the SPCZ resides over Fiji very large amounts of rain occur, during the Northern Hemisphere winter months (November to April), and when the ITCZ begins to move back to the North the rainfall begins to lessen.
Suva's micro-scale climate controls are greatly related to the topography of the island. The island has a mountainous center and causes a barrier for the East to West wind movement.
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| Map of Fiji showing the island of Viti Levu with Suva on the East side of the mountain range. Winds move East to West in the area and find the barrier of the mountains on the island. This has influences on the rainfall and storm development. Image: http://www.worldaccomodation.com/angol/continent/southpacific/fijiislands/vacationrentals.php |
The mountains, with Mt. Victoria being
the highest point, causes Orographic lifting to the air masses that move
over the area. This result in the majority of
the precipitation falling out of the air mass before it moves over
the range. As a result, Suva receives significantly more
rainfall than that of the West side of the island. About 117 inches a year
compared to cities in the West like Nadi which receives about 71 inches
of precipitation.
Data gathered from the Hong Kong
University
(http://www.hko.gov.hk/wxinfo/climat/world/eng/australia/pacific/nadi_e.htm)
Suva, though not being a large city,
still produces a small heat island from the impermeable surfaces and buildings
causing different energy balances than that of the natural environment. This
isn't nearly as noticeable as other cities because of the size and the
surrounding ocean.
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| This is a graph of the average temperatures of July. A linear regression is added to each. From 1970 to 2012 there has been a slight increase in the average temperature. Only about a single degree centigrade. Data gathered from NOAA. |
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| This is a graph of the average Temperatures of January. A linear regression was applied to both plots. From 1970 to 2012 January also showed an increase to overall temperature. The regressions so about 2.1 degree centigrade change for the maximum and a 1.5 degree centigrade change for the minimums. Data gathered from NOAA. |
From the graphs we can see a trending upward line. There could be a few factors resulting in this increase. It could be showing the overall climate change of the world increasing in temperature over this area. Or it could just be the result of micro-scale climate controls. Considering we can't really test to find out if this is the result of something like urban heat island or a warming trend in this area as the result of global climate change we can't make conclusions on it. We can just accept that there was a significant change of temperature in Suva from 1970 to now.
Contrary to the tropical island climate of Fiji, North Dakota is a land locked state in the U.S.A. This is nearly the polar opposite of Fiji sharing little to no similarities.
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| Location of North Dakota, residing in the North central of the United States. |
Being a land locked location with only a few sources of water around the state North Dakota is greatly influenced by seasonality. With the land gain and losing energy much more quickly than water, North Dakota has massive swings in temperature over the year. With highs around 85F in the summer, it is similar to Suva's highs, but through the transition to the winter, North Dakota drops to about 28F. The difference in temperatures being 57F compared to Suva's 10F degree fluctuations.
As we have seen Fiji is influenced by the ITCZ, whereas North Dakota is influenced by Polar air fronts. North Dakota is very far north and as a result can have long periods of dryness where as Suva receives moisture everyday. This is the result of the latitude of North Dakota, being far enough North to experience polar air masses dominating the area. On occasion a mid latitude cyclone can make it's way far enough North to deliver the moist maritime front to the polar front result in precipitation, but it doesn't occur very often. There are also Pacific fronts that occasionally come through. The result is cold dry winters.
On a micro-scale view we can see that North Dakota doesn't have much in the terms of elevation change. The mountain range in Suva causing the rain shadow in the West of the island is something that is unknown to North Dakota. It isn't Nebraska, but there are definitely no mountains. It would probably be to dry for the hills in the Southwest to create any rain shadow.
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| Southwest North Dakota in the Badlands area. The topography is pleasent to look at, but doesn't influence the climate in the same way that the mountains in Fiji do. Image: http://wikitravel.org/upload/en/thumb/8/82/Badlands1.jpg/250px-Badlands1.jpg |
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| The view of the mountains from Suva. Rarely is very clear to see the extent of how far they continue back. Considerably larger than North Dakota terrain. Image: http://mw2.google.com/mw-panoramio/photos/medium/69556144.jpg |
